A multiclassifier approach for topology-based WiFi indoor localization

People localization is required for many novel applications like for instance proactive care for the elders or people suffering degenerative dementia such as Alzheimer's disease. This paper introduces a new system for people localization in indoor environments. It is based on a topology-based WiFi signal strength fingerprint approach. Accordingly, it is a robust, cheap, ubiquitous and non-intrusive system which does require neither the installation of extra hardware nor prior knowledge about the structure of the environment under consideration. The well-known curse of dimensionality critically emerges when dealing with complex environments. The localization task turns into a high dimensional classification task. Therefore, the core of the proposed framework is a fuzzy rule-based multiclassification system, using standard methodologies for the component classifier generation such as bagging and random subspace, along with fuzzy logic to deal with the huge uncertainty that is characteristic of WiFi signals. Achieved results in two real environments are encouraging, since they clearly overcome those ones provided by the well-known nearest neighbor fingerprint matching algorithm, which is usually considered as a baseline for WiFi localization. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

keywords: Bagging, Classifier ensembles, Fuzzy rule-based multiclassification systems, Random subspace, WiFi localization